This is the kind of wine you buy by the case. This Tuscan beauty punches well above its weight in the flavour department. Deep ruby in colour, it has a plummy, earthy nose. Medium-bodied and dry. Sour-cherry and plum flavours fill the mouth, given structure by ripe tannins and a lively spine of acidity.
Comfortably worn leather, dried raspberry and dried cherry pervade this Barolo from the commune of La Morra. Worn leather, worn cherry, ripe and savoury and finely salted on the mellow palate, showing much more age than its age. Tannins are softly tuggy, and dried rose petals linger on the finish. This is from Cabot Berton’s 8 ha of hillside Nebbiolo on sandy, marl and calcareous clay soils. After maceration on the skins for 16 days in concrete, this spent 18 months in Slovenian oak casks, followed by a tightening 6 months in stainless before bottling.
Dark ruby, purple rim. Ripe red and black berries with a fair amount of oak, which brings pastry notes to the nose but it’s not excessive given the full-flavoured palate. Full-bodied and a tad bitter, it has an even better future ahead of itself. Merlot with 25% Sangiovese.
Entirely Nerello Mascalese, a grape only found on this tip of Sicily, and born from the volcanic soils and altitude of Etna DOC. Sourced from Planeta Etna’s Feudo di Mezzo winery at 500m altitude, this wine was fermented in wood vats and stainless, and spent 18 days with the skins before resting in the same for 6 months. Pretty and fine-grained, dusted with stony tannins, violets, wild raspberries, black cherries, and salted wild herbs, and textured with a pixellated acidity. This wine contradicts its 14% alcohol, with a youthful exuberance that streams it skyward and encourages cellaring for the next 5+ years.
Supple offering with wall-to-wall raspberry, cherry, rose, violets, clove and minerals. Sound acidity and velvety tannins alongside a long floral, saline aftertaste. Drink over the next 2 to 3 years.
Floral and structured with rich fruit, bold, velvety tannins and a long, lifted finish. Chiavennasca grapes (the name for the biotype of Nebbiolo most common in the Valtellina) are dried Amarone-style to create depth, length and elegance.
From grapes harvested in various hilly clay/limestone vineyards (Mezzane and Tregnago hills) across Valpo, this is a blend of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Rossignola, Oceleta, Negara and Dindarella vines averaging 20 years in age. The grapes were racked and dried for 4 months before a gentle press, a 2-month ferment and a 3-year stay in Slavonian oak and a 6-month stint in bottle after blending. Leathery blackcurrant and ripe plum is imbued with a twiney thread and tarry undercurrent, which seasons the full, potent core through to a humming and lengthy finish. The heft (not negligible at 16%) is surprisingly lifted with a wispy cloud of acidity and bracketed with gritty tannins. A serious lens to modern Amarone Classico, a wine that has often become a caricature. Lay this down.